South Korea's point man on the North Korean nuclear standoff arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, saying he was in town to help set up a "working group" that will push for progress in the 17-month standoff.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said he would meet with Chinese officials but didn't elaborate on his schedule. He was set to stay in Beijing for two days.
"We are going to discuss the formation of the working group," Lee told reporters upon arrival at Beijing's Capital International Airport. He said he was not part of the working group but only in Beijing for "planning" purposes to help it get started.
Last month, six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program in Beijing brought together the Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan. Lee led Seoul's delegation.
They were trying to resolve a stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang that began in October, 2002, when the US said the North had acknowledged a nuclear weapons program whose existence would violate a 1994 treaty.
The talks ended with a joint but unsigned "chairman's statement" that underscored the importance of keeping the process going -- including by creating the lower-level working groups to hash out obstacles that might not be suitable for the high-level talks.
The US demands an immediate, verifiable end to the North's nuclear ambitions. Pyongyang has said it would consider complying only if Washington offers aid and agrees in writing not to attack.
Lee's boss, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, has cautioned the North against using Seoul's recent political turmoil and Friday's presidential impeachment as "an excuse to be reluctant or to try avoiding six-party talks."
Said Lee: "I don't think our own political situation will have any impact on the six-party talks."
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS